Pacifist – The Super Extraction Utility

Pacifist is one of those really useful apps you wish you had that you didn’t know existed. Pacifist is a shareware application that opens Mac OS X .pkg package files, .dmg disk images, and .tar, .tgz, and .tar.gz file archives and allows you to extract individual files and folders out of them. This is useful, for instance, if an application which is installed by the operating system becomes damaged and needs to be reinstalled without the hassle of reinstalling all of Mac OS X.

I came across Pacifist after learning the hard way that Aperture 1.0 wouldn’t install on a MacBook, because the screen resolution isn’t supported! Well, you can force the install with Pacifist (and BTW, Aperture runs fine on MacBooks).

Pacifist is also able to verify existing installations and find missing or altered files, and Pacifist can also examine the kernel extensions installed in your system to let you see what installer installed them, and whether the installer was made by Apple or a third-party.

It’s $20 shareware, but it is very useful. Try it for yourself and find out!